2023-06-18 23:09:00
They had planned to act during the Vienna Pride March. On Sunday, Austrian police said they had arrested three men, aged 14, 17 and 20, on suspicion of planning an Islamic attack on Vienna’s Pride, which took place the day before.
Who are the three suspects?
These three men, aged 14, 17 and 20, are three Austrians of Chechen and Bosnian origin. They are suspected of being sympathizers of the jihadist organization Islamic State (IS). They were arrested before the start of the parade, according to the head of the Austrian intelligence agency, Omar Haijawi-Pirchner. Their home was also searched.
“They shared extremist content on the internet. In this context, the suspects have focused on the Vienna Rainbow Parade as a potential target,” the Interior Ministry said in a statement. a statement. During arrests on Saturday, the authorities discovered weapons, firearms and sharp edges, and other evidence against the three men.
One of them was already known to the police. They had planned to use “bladed weapons or vehicles” during the Pride march, police told reporters.
Enhanced parade security
Austrian authorities preferred to wait until Sunday to reveal the arrests, to avoid causing anxiety among parade participants. However, security had been tightened.
The Vienna Pride March was thus “able to take place calmly and without major incident”, notes the Ministry of the Interior. Some 300,000 people marched for LGBT+ rights.
In November 2020, an IS sympathizer opened fire in central Vienna, killing four people and injuring 23 others before being shot dead by police. It was the first jihadist attack in Austria.
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